Thanks to the work of intern Anna Libertin, a graduate student at Simmons University studying Library and Information Science with a concentration in archives, the papers of noted Vermont resident and brevetted Civil War major, Charles G. Gould, are now available in Silver Special Collections. Born to a rural Vermont family in 1844, Gould is lauded as the first man to surmount Confederate ramparts at the final siege of Petersburg in April 1865 – an extraordinary act of heroism that earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1890.

As the Medal of Honor citation declared, “Among the first to mount the enemy’s works in the assault [in Petersburg], [Gould] received a serious bayonet wound in the face, was struck several times with clubbed muskets, but bravely stood his ground, and with his sword killed the man who bayoneted him.”

After the war, Gould moved to the nation’s capital, where he worked in numerous Federal departments and agencies, including the U.S. Pension Office, the U.S. Secretary of War’s Office, and the U.S. Patent Office, until his death in 1916.

The new collection features original letters, diaries, military and professional papers, photographs, and objects such as Gould’s Congressional Medal of Honor and the original sword and scabbard that he wielded at Petersburg. Check out the Charles G. Gould Papers to learn more about Gould's life and professional activities.